QuickNavigation - FF Odyssey Final Fantasy Unlimited Episode 1 (Last updated on 11/14/2007)

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By: Kenji Masaki

Warning: This writeup contains spoilers, view at your own risk!

Episode 1 - "The Outer World: Those who journey into darkness"

It was supposedly a normal day in a port city of Japan. The marina regatta was ready to begin, and although the skies were eerily dark, noone expected anything to happen...
And yet, this is the day that changed everything. A pillar of darkness appeared in the Sea of Japan for no apparent reason. Head scientist Joe Hayakawa tries to find the source of this power with his team of researchers, to no avail. As people began to notice the black portal leading to the skies above, Joe rushes to his newlywed Marie, taking observations of the strange pillar.
"Marie! You shouldn't be doing this kind of stuff when you have a baby to take care of!"
"But this is the first time something like this has happened, right?"
"That is true, but..."
"Just hurry up and record this-"
Suddenly, a surge of energy cut Marie's conversation off. The pillar was now filling the skies with a blinding light, protruding from it a strange flying beast, equipped with a triple-barreled cannon in lieu of a nose. The red behemoth, now at the center of an attack being mounted by gunboats and fighter jets alike, proceeded to use its incredible power by blowing them out of the sky with his formidable dark cannon.
However, the pillar of darkness was not finished. Another blast of light came forth, and from the portal emerged a metallic serpent. As the two beasts eyed each other, both charged their weapons... the etude of white silver... the strength of soil...
In an instant, the monsters fired their weapons simultaneously, destroying each other  in a surge of light and darkness. Joe and Marie only stood, protecting each other, as the chaos subsided...
Little did they know, however, that the chaos was just about to begin...

Note: Welcome to the beginning of Final Fantasy: Unlimited, people. For the next ten or so episodes, we will be "guided" by the prophet known as Fabra. She is your usual "riddle me this" character, but perhaps we will see more of her in later episodes...
Twelve years have now passed from the "day of succession", the day when the pillar of darkness appeared in the Sea of Japan. From that, a new adventure is just about to begin...
Enter Yu and Ai Hayakawa, the son and daughter of Joe and Marie. The Hayakawas, ever since the day of succession, have gone to observe and record the strange things that exist within the dark pillar, and have successfully returned every time. Unfortunately, this time is not the case, and Yu and Ai have gone to search for their missing parents, believed to be trapped inside the pillar, known as the Outer World. Their only clue: their parents' published book, simply named The Day of Succession. In it, their father describes the sole way to get from their world to the Outer World: by a special subway that only stops at 12:13 and 13 seconds. As they arrive at the subway station, completely deserted and nearly destroyed, they wait, becoming skeptical with every second that ticks by... until they feel the gust of wind down the tunnel... and with a flash, the Outer World train appears out of nowhere!
Note: The train's CG is really well done... traditional cel-animation and CG is becoming quite well blended nowadays...
Despite Yu's fear that they might not return, Ai pulls him along anyway as the subway bells toll its departure. As the train blasts off down the tunnel and into the otherworld pillar, Ai and Yu stumble across what seems like another human lady- but her smile seems suspicious, though, and Ai sees through that like jellyfish through plastic wrap. Yu, however, being the more considerate of the twins, tells about their quest to find their parents missing in the outer world. The stranger's name, you ask? Lisa Pacifist... unfortunately, that's all she really reveals about herself before the subway penetrates the pillar of darkness, knocking everyone unconcious...
As Yu, Ai, and Lisa awake at the bottom of the subway, they open the door to find a giant spiral staircase woven around the train! With no choice but to walk up to its destination, the threesome start their trek up the incredibly long staircase, finding out along the way that Lisa is searching for someone also lost in the Outer World...
Our heroes finally find their way up to the end of the staircase, popping out of the ground of what seems like an entire city devoted to insects, with a crimson sky overhead... is this truly the Outer World? Upon closer inspection, Ai confirms it: "This place isn't normal... this is definitely the Outer World!!!"
Meanwhile, we find that Yu has come across a more favorable place, along with a more favorable guest- yeah, that's right, it's a Chocobo!! Yu tries to gain its trust by giving it a Chocobar (can anyone explain WHY they have that in their world?), but is caught by Ai, telling him not to give their "valuable rations". The chocobo retaliates by tugging at Ai's red pigtails, tossing her aside and running away. Apparently, Joe and Marie also reported about seeing these yellow birds, saying in their book that they bring good fortune to and happiness to whomever tames it. As Yu gives chase, he trips over what seems like a branch- but it looks like a leg... ack! A human's leg? Ai and Lisa rush over to see a strange cloaked figure tangled in the weeds and apparantly asleep... until now. The nameless man awakes from his slumber, asking, "This place... where am I? The Outer World? Is he here also?". Unable to decipher what the man is saying, our heroes are left only to wonder... however, minds that wonder wander as well as Ai points out a strange mushroom-shaped flying device coming closer to them... and it's dropping a crystal-shaped bomb! The caped man disappears in a cloud of dust as the crystal plunges into the cityscape... and from it appears a giant, two-ton mushroom that could intimidate Godzilla! Cue the battle music!!
So it seems that even though this idiot mushroom can't do much except extend its fungi-apparati into buildings, smashing everything in sight, our heroes are pretty much left to be crushed- until Lisa reveals a strange power, overpowering the monster and throwing it into the skyline behind her. She calls this power Genesis, the skill of martial arts that protects life... too bad it can't take down incredibly large monsters, because that mushroom she just trashed has become a giant mutated King Kong-like mushroom! Time to run!
Unfortunately for them, their luck- along with the road- has just run out, as the mushroom superhuman bashes them off the edge of the cliff. Lisa is left to hang on to a single rock, with Ai and Yu in tow- separating between life and death. The mushroom-man is powering up for its final attack, and all hope seems lost... until we see the strange man- but this time, he's unveiled his special weapon- a Demon Gun attached to his right arm. "Soil! My strength!"
Note: The Demon Gun begins to assemble, and we see in its full CG splendor the drill, the pumping heart, and the triple barrel of it. A beautiful sight, isn't it? Almost cried when I saw it for the first time...
"I've chosen the soil for the likes of you!
Origin of all... Mother Black!
One that burns everything... Fire Red!
And this one is the critical point of all... Burning Gold!
Burn! Summon creature! Phoenix!!!"
The mushroom mutant, feeling its tremendous power, tries to prevent the three beams of red, yellow, and black from hitting its target, but to no avail. With a bright red explosion, the mushroom is blown to bits, and from it, a phoenix appears, cries before the victors, and flies into the skies, shattering the Outer World parameters... but is reassembled as if nothing happened. *Victory Fanfare*
As Yu, Ai, and Lisa, now saved and on to solid ground, are left to wonder about the mysterious man that saved them, a strange jester overlooks the scene from a hill, whispering to himself, "Unlimited!"
... To Be Continued...

Brief note: From here on out, or whenever I don't submit reviews (which I hope won't be for a very long time), I will be referring to the world that Ai, Yu, Lisa, and the strange man of the dark wind are in now as the INNER world, not Outer World. As Choco-baba tells the group later, "This world we are in is the INNER world! That which is outside is the OUTER world! ... Or so the rumors say."
Good points: The first five minutes are what everyone expects of the Final Fantasy franchise- a mysterious world, two giant beasts duking it out, destruction, pyrotechnics... ah, this is what good anime is made of! The CG in this episode is absolutely flawless, and suprisingly flows well with the traditional cel background. The plot, although slow due to setup, has definite promise- who is the man of the dark wind, what is Lisa really searching for, and what is this "Unlimited"? And the ending song is a great song. No foolin'.
Bad Points: What I am scared of, however, is where this plot could go... if it remains the "let's try and search for our parents" plot that it is seemingly turning out to be, I just might scream. The rest of the plot is slow, but is understandable, as I have stated above. And I hope they come up with some better monsters... that mushroom was too much of a laugh.

Kenji's Score: 7/10